Believe No one

It must be close to the Draft because the misinformation fairy is spreading her tall tales all over the air waves. Isn’t it a coincidence that the report claiming that Da’Quan Bowers will be needing a walker to get around by the time his first contract expires shows up a month and a half after the combine and a week and a half before the draft? This is no accident. The teams that want him to slide are more than happy to take a player that some other gullible teams passed on. Do you think MAYBE one those teams just might have let those medical reports slip past them and into the hands of their trusty beat man who has the team’s back, some team’s version of Tom (Killer) Kowalski? This is the time of the year that I wouldn’t believe ANYTHING that a team says.

When I was a kid, some of the best stories my dad told me were about the days when the old NFL and the new hotshot league called the AFL competed against each other for the same draft picks. It was in the early 60’s, and the cold war was at its height. The trickery and deception practiced by the Americans and Russians paled in comparison to the lengths that teams went through to secure the talents of their draft picks. The teams would hide the players in different cities so the other team couldn’t get in contact with him until the contract was signed. I could go on about those crazy times, but the old sports adage applies here more than ever. “If you ain’t lying, you ain’t trying”.

Imagine a giant poker table with 32 players– do you really think any of them is going to tell you anything that will help you beat him? When it comes to the Draft, you’re on your own. You’d have more luck getting help from the IRS.

It’s obvious to anybody that follows the Lions and carries a driver’s license that they desperately need outside linebackers and cornerbacks. Sitting there in the 13th slot doesn’t leave us much hope for landing either one of those positions. It’s a big if, but IF he is still there when the Lions select, I’m starting to not mind if we take the Prince from Nebraska, we really need a number one corner. I would LOVE if they took a chance on Jimmy Smith of Colorado. He is the ONLY guy I would prefer over a defensive end.

I don’t see an outside linebacker that’s rated anywhere near that pick. It seems that the best ones are going to be there in the second round. We badly need one who can effectively drop into space on passes. We’re getting killed on the short passes that other teams use to neutralize our strong pass rush. I don’t really have any favorites for that pick, because whoever we draft will be my guy. The names I hear the most are Mason Foster, Washington; Bruce Carter, North Carolina or Dontay Moch from the University of Nevada. Because DeAndre Levy is built like an outside linebacker and played there his rookie year, I wouldn’t mine them taking a middle linebacker in the second round.

As I stated previously, I’m in favor of the Lions taking a Defensive End with the first choice. The NFL has become a passing league, and the basics boil down to two things: the first objective nowadays is to get a stud quarterback and a left tackle to protect his blind side. The other is to get to the quarterback as quickly as possible and make his life miserable. I just don’t see either Tyron Smith or Anthony Castonzo being anywhere near the prospect that Jake Long of Miami or a Joe Thomas of Cleveland were. If they were, they would be long gone before our Lions were called to pick.

The first thing people around the league think of when they think of the Lions is their ferocious front four, that and our quarterback’s nickname is Glassford. I love having that tag (the fearsome foursome one). It’s worked for the New York Giants, who stockpile Defensive Lineman like people on that TV show Hoarders. My favorite lineman is Ryan Kerrigan of Purdue. His critics say he has limited physical skills. I love guys who overachieve, It’s a lifetime habit that will carry over to the pros. As ESPN showed the other night in that Tom Brady special, you can’t measure a man’s heart, just his tape. D-end is clearly the deepest position in the Draft this year, somebody you pick up at 13 this year in other years might be a top five pick. Aldon Smith of Missouri and Cameron Jordan of Cal are a couple of other names that make my heart flutter. I want quarterbacks around the league to know if they’re playing the Lions that they’re in for a LONNNNG day.

The third round is where it gets tricky; if I guessed right, we’ll be looking for the best corner out there. If we can snag one of those, then we will have added a lineman, a linebacker and a corner, and that defense is starting to look pretty intimidating. If we can wait until the fourth round for that corner, I would love for them to look at a wide receiver . Defenses are still rolling their coverages toward Megatron because our third wide out is played by Casper the Ghost: invisible. Nate Burleson is doing all right, but he needs to be in the slot.

Please Mayhew, if you can get a center ANYWHERE in the draft, it would be greatly appreciated. Everyone is always ripping Jeff Backus, and rightfully so, but that other Millen pick Dominic Raiola needs to sit also. We need a center that can open holes and not get pushed back into his own quarterback most of the time.
This is my favorite time of the year, the week before the draft. A time where every NFL executive is sporting a nose longer than Pinocchio, does anybody really believe Denver Broncos president and retired superhero John Elway about drafting a quarterback with the second pick? BELIEVE NO ONE.